Archive for September, 2009

Sorry to be uncommunicative for awhile. I got caught up in needlepoint trade shows and seminars but I’m happy to report that I’m back in the office and have no travel plans looming for awhile.

As I said when I started this blog, I want to use the blog to address some of the day to day issues that come up at Needlepoint Now. I hope the following will answer questions that were brought up today by a few of our loyal readers.

The September/October issue went into the mail on September 8th. It started hitting the West Coast mailboxes on the 11th. I have received many phone calls from the East Coast asking us why they haven’t received their magazines yet. It seems the West Coast people have been very vocal about the fact that they get their copies first now that they are mailed from Oregon. I want to assure everyone that all of the magazines are dropped in the mail on the same day. Shop copies and subscription copies go out at the same time so we only have to pay the mail house one set up fee. The only exception is the “early send” copy that is sent from the office to advertisers and content contributors. If you are an advertiser or have written an article for the magazine I send you a copy as soon as I get them from the printer. I was at the ANG seminar when they arrived this time but I believe they were mailed out on the 1st. I don’t mind the phone calls asking where your magazines are. In fact all of us who work on the magazine are flattered that it means so much to our readers.

Another issue that has bothered a few of our counted thread readers is the fact that I am covering painted canvas and painted canvas designers now. When I made the decision to cover painted canvas I added eight pages to the magazine. My goal is to introduce a different designer in each issue. A stitch guide is offered for one of their designs. I realize that many needlepointers do not like to work on painted canvas but they can still learn about interesting fibers and stitches that work well for different kinds of effects that may be used on their own projects. We are still covering counted work as much as we did before. Nothing has been taken away from the issue to make room for the coverage on the painted canvas world.

Personally, I like to work on both painted canvas and counted designs. I usually have about four primary projects going at a time. Currently I am working on Debbie Forney’s “Paisley Passion Purse”, Terry Dryden’s “Safari”, a Kelly Clark canvas for a pair of mules, the Mindy canvas for the Stirling purse that was featured in the September/October issue. Something for every mood!